The Giants have not fared well against their American League foes, getting thumped for the second straight night in Anaheim on the heels of losing two of three in Seattle. I suppose they can be forgiven as the National League is, once again, getting its collective hat handed to it by the so-called Junior Circuit. According to this site, it is 109-82 AL-NL. I note that the Rockies are 1-11! What a wasted season in Colorado. Regardless, the ALers are kicking ass. As a long time old school NLer, I'm aghast. Since 1997, the Senior Circuit has had a winning record in interleague play only four times: 1997, 1999, 2002, and 2003. It is hard to explain away 2038-1853, a .524 winning percentage.
But I want to talk about Ryan Vogelsong. He gave up a long home run but otherwise was the same tough, studly guy we see every time. He had a little bad luck in the fifth, only one hard hit ball in the bunch, but it was enough. He pitched a good game, going seven innings for the fifth straight start and tenth time this season. Vogie has given up four runs in a start one time, and three runs three times. That leaves nine starts in which he's allowed two runs or fewer. That's good work. He's an incredible asset to the team, and compared to fifth starters he has to be near the best. He is, in fact, the third best on the Giants at this point in the season, and is once again pitching brilliantly after his Cinderella-comeback flukey 2011. I know I write about this every time he pitches, but I can't seem to accept it as fact. He's a beast. He's for real. He's the Cainiest of the guys who aren't actually Matt Cain. He's Cainesque (Cainian?). He's as Matt Cainy as you can be without being the real Cainer. Good move, Ryan. Be like him. That's a smart career choice right there. Hey, how about Albert Pujols pulling an 0-fer? You like that? I do. Way to go, Voge-ster, you gave us something to get excited about tonight.
--M.C.
9 comments:
And we dropped 2 of 3 to Tejas. Henry Schulman in the Chronic today had an article about the game, in which he states, "The (Giants)have feasted on bad teams while struggling against the few good ones they have faced.
They have not won a series against a team that currently has a winning record since taking three of four against the Mets in late April. They have lost both series at Los Angeles and another at Cincinnati while going 2-5 against Miami at a time when the Marlins had a winning record."
I would take some issue with this. I do not believe that we have "feasted" against bad teams. We have, what one sweep? Didn't we only win 2/3 against Houston? And Seattle? And split a two-gamer with Colorado? And only win 2/3 from San Diego, twice? These are not good teams, and I would not call 2 of 3 "feasting." I would call it "meeting minimum expectations for a contending team." Right now we are rapidly descending back towards .500. We play the A's next, who are playing good ball, and then the doggers. If we let them beat up on us, again, then we have start to wonder whether we can really be a first place team in this division.
Warning signs:
- Pretty much everyone in our previously reliable bullpen has had their problems lately, &, specifically, in the last few days. We all know that short relievers are flaky. But, lacking anything ML-ready @ Fresno, we should start looking for some trade deadline help in this department.
- Ryan Theriot is better than Jeff Keppinger, but nearly everyone calling themselves an ML 2B is better than Jeff Keppinger. We should still look to try to upgrade there.
- I hear that we may be involved in the annual Wandy Rodriguez conversation. Pretty expensive guy to bring in, although Zito is probably done with his positive contributions for the year & Lincecum is still bad, so we do need help. Wandy R., only if we don't have to pay his full salary.
Mark, although your Cricket tie-in yesterday was clever, you missed an opportunity to take it a step further. The MCC, the Marylebone Cricket Club, was (&, to some extent, still is) the alternate name for the English Cricket Team. The MCC is based at Lord's, the most famous cricket ground in the world - an amazing place to watch match. When national teams play each other, they are referred to by the name of their country (e.g. England v. Sri Lanka). When other teams travel overseas & play warm-up matches, they are usually known as 'Australians', 'Indians', etc. (e.g. South Africans v. Gloucstershire). However, when England play warm-up matches overseas, it is MCC v. New South Wales, etc.. You can read more on the Marylebone Cricket Club at 'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marylebone_Cricket_Club'.
More like I chose not to make the tie-in to MCC. I have been to that hallowed ground and seen part of a match there. I have the scorecard. Sue has a hat with the Father Time & wickets logo and I bought a copy of the Laws of Cricket.
I thought about it, then decided the obscure MCC reference would likely be caught only by one reader of this blog. Congrats, you're it!
Yes, Mark, I knew that you & Sue had made the pilgrimage - my post was intended more for the rest of the uninformed masses. I'm sure that Zo will have something witty to add to the discussion.
No, I do not.
That statement, alone, is quite witty.
I hear crickets.
Don't look now, but the D-Backs are only 3-1/2 behind the Giants.
Ha! The doggers lost again to Oakland on a 9th inning Cespedes home run.
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